Old ladies and gents gliding around a tearoom under yellowing chandeliers in Blackpool, England. Tanned guys with fixed-grins in tight suits beaming at their sequined partners. Fred Astaire in a penguin suit, gals in gowns and musicals from the 1950s. Put all these images out of your mind.
Ballroom dancing is back in fashion with Burn the Floor Dance Evolution, a spectacular show that opened yesterday in Taipei at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall (國父記念館) and which will run every night until next Sunday.
Burn the Floor puts 16 world-class dancing couples under the laser lights and in a Hollywood setting. It covers a range of dance styles very loosely organized under the ballroom and latin banner, including: salsa, jive, waltz, the twist, cha cha, jitterbug, samba and quickstep. Even disco, rock 'n' roll and hip hop get in the mix.
The dances are organized in sections -- swing, fantasy waltz, industrial cha cha, big-band salsa, passionate-tango -- each of which has a plot and drives the set forward. The interaction of the dancers also adds to the story line of the performance.
"It's like looking at a painting by [Claude] Monet," said artistic director Jason Gilkison at a press conference earlier this week. "The closer you look the more there is to see."
Bringing ballroom dancing up-to-date was the aim of the show's producer Harley Medcalf, who conceived the idea at Elton John's 50th birthday party nine years ago. A line of 16 dancers was the highlight of the event -- not a bad achievement when you consider the star of the show turned up in the back of a furniture truck because his elaborate Louis XIV costume and wig was too big for the car.
The idea was transformed into a reality by: choreographer Anthony van Laast; designer Bonita Bryg, who came up with 618 lavish costumes and 342 pairs of shoes; lighting and controlled explosions from Patrick Woodroffe; and an extravagant set design by Marc Fischer. Universal films backed the project and it premiered in 1999.
Obviously, Burn the Floor was intended to catch the spread of dance fever stoked by Michael Flatley and Riverdance, but it had its problems and these came to a head in 2000 when the US tour was cut short.
There was too much razzle dazzle and too little emphasis on the dancers, it was decided, and championship dancer Jason Gilkison stepped up to turn the show around. At the press conference in Taipei, he said pyrotechnics had got in the way.
"There were so many effects then, we couldn't see the dancers, the sweat flying, the real excitement. It was so spectacular it was nearly soulless. Because of all the production elements, it covered up the focus of what we were doing. The dancers looked all the same, like Riverdance. We've still got the stairs, the props and the mirror balls but what you see now is the dance."
Asked by the Taipei Times whether the show was now a pumped-up, extreme sports version of ballroom dancing, Gilkison said: "It's a fine line between the two because we put together the energy [of sports] and combine it with the passion and artistry of the dancehall. We give the dancers the freedom of the floor."
Cast member Jonathon Doone, who first visited Taiwan 10 years ago for a competition and has been with Burn for six years, said everyone wanted to express themselves.
"As one of the dancers I can tell you that we don't want to be cookie-cut. Everyone has their own style. ... And if you have too many effects then you lose the ability to communicate with the audience directly."
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